Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 508 Homophones (First Update)

S.H.I.E.L.D. had compiled a list of almost every known special individual, and it was kept under extremely high secrecy. But when Agent Victoria Hand logged into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret database and handed the list to the new boss, Salomon couldn't help but laugh as he looked at the file, finding it as novel and amusing as watching a comical parrot running on a wheel.

"A Mexican woman with blades installed on her fingers. Is she a dangerous target?" Salomon pointed to a printed document. "The solution is to put steel finger cots on her... oh, custom-made ones from a hardware store. Couldn't S.H.I.E.L.D. just give her surgery?"

"Kara Fee Gideon worked in a medical lab with her abusive boyfriend. Wanting to protect herself, she performed surgery on herself. It's permanent, indelible; the bolts have grown into her flesh unless her finger is cut off. Can you imagine someone being crazy enough to install bolts and blades in their own finger? She killed many people; her boyfriend wasn't the first victim." Agent Hand glanced at the arcane mage. "S.H.I.E.L.D. created this list for a reason. It's not all people with superpowers… well, those whose brains have been damaged by experimental steroids also count. In short, some people are extremely dangerous, so this list is largely a surveillance list. If you want to take on the responsibility of S.H.I.E.L.D., then these are your tasks."

Salomon raised an eyebrow and tossed the file back onto the table with disdain.

Agent Victoria Hand has donned a women's suit again, processing information with Wakandan-made goggles. Salomon has given her the holographic projection desktop as a command channel, and with the aid of artificial intelligence, Victoria Hand has begun sifting through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s truly classified files—what Natasha Romanoff put online was merely the tip of the iceberg, and mostly contained information on Nazi-affiliated Hydra. Agent Hand is finding things Nick Fury is trying to hide forever. Now she is a ghost, a Level 8 agent proven dead. If S.H.I.E.L.D. were still functioning normally, her account password would soon be deleted; however, the current remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. are at a standstill, and no one can handle such a situation.

She quickly settled into her role and took a strong liking to the existence of "classification levels." She had no interest in what Salomon was hiding unless she absolutely needed to know it; she only required that those secrets not affect her leadership and command.

"I'm not the world's policeman. Those people are a matter of public order, far from being world-destroying. They don't pose a threat to the world unless some of them are dark magic creatures." Salomon pulled up the database of dark magic creatures and showed them to her one by one. In the database, he had written down the characteristics, countermeasures, and abilities of various dark magic creatures, as well as how to provide emergency medical care after being attacked. These were all experiences accumulated by the Kamar-Taj sorcerers, now transformed into a guide for the Immortal City.

"Compare the list with this information, then identify the target. I want to know how many dark magic creatures S.H.I.E.L.D. has been hiding over the years." Salomon chuckled twice. "Given Nick Fury's personality, he'll definitely study vampires and werewolves, and then treat the cursed dark magic creatures as superpowered beings, which might cause a lot of trouble."

"What about dark wizards?" Agent Hand blushed, but quickly regained her composure. She didn't want anyone to know she was a fan of children's books. She spoke with the same certainty she used when commanding a special operations team, "I don't know what you call illegal wizards, but they definitely exist."

"Those people have already been dealt with by Kamar-Taj, and Kamar-Taj has been monitoring the black market for magical materials on Earth." The arcane mage waved his hand. "Those people are not the organization's responsibility for now. Dark wizards are more difficult to deal with than dark magical creatures. Focus on gaining combat experience first; you and your team need time to gel. Don't rush things; you'll have useful heavy weapons and special equipment, and that team is still practicing how to use them."

Salomon gave Victoria Hand's team the conservative Hydra special operations team. He had already explained to her that those Hydras had little to do with Nazi Hydra and had revealed some secrets to her—including the establishment of the Immortal City and the origins of Hydra. This raises another question.

"Can you guarantee their loyalty?"

"It's difficult. Many of them don't believe in the Hydra god, nor in the ideology of Alexander Pierce's lineage. They were recruited later, more like mercenaries who do things for money."

The information that Agent Hand mentioned was also something Salomon had considered.

Since it was a squad organized in the name of the Malik family, Stephanie also had some command authority. However, Stephanie cleverly and voluntarily relinquished that power—she looked down on the squad used as a temporary measure. This outcome was likely orchestrated by old Malik, because when Salomon called Gideon Malik to inquire about the matter, the old smuggler readily agreed without mentioning any conditions. He knew Salomon would never mistreat his daughter, and sure enough, Salomon immediately summoned Stephanie to a meeting, intending for her to be in charge of training the girls who hadn't passed the initial screening, sending them to outside schools for professional training, and cultivating them into administrative and medical personnel, capable of using various types of weapons in combat when necessary.

Hand agents would gradually gain full command of the squad and select qualified candidates from previous missions for retraining. Retrained squad members would then be placed under Hand agent command, while those deemed unqualified would face only one fate. This was a necessary measure to ensure the organization's purity, a view Stephanie agreed with, and far more benevolent than Hydra's past methods, at least providing time for testing.

Salomon had already finalized the department's emblem: a red shield with a gold steel glove featuring a silver skull on the back of a hand. Agent Hand, who was signing an agreement to confirm command, rolled his eyes, offering no comment on his new boss's quirky pun.

By signing the agreement written on parchment, she would gain command of several carrier battle groups, accompanying Quinjet fighters, and virtually all mortal armies. The Sorority would also provide limited support for her operations. This was an immense amount of power, though not quite the same as her time at S.H.I.E.L.D., but she was one of the better-off among the countless loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who died, and Salomon's trust in her was something Nick Fury could never match.

She requested to meet the daughter of the conservative Hydra leader, as the head of the Immortal City's intelligence department, she wanted a thorough understanding of the conservative Hydra's composition. However, she was told that Stephanie was away on business—that's exactly what Salomon said—because Stephanie needed to register several shell companies to leverage her family's influence to cultivate relationships within the government, hiding Salomon's organization within Congress's Greyswords, under her father's name.

If she did that, Stephanie could even receive a grant, as long as she could capture a few escaped Hydra agents.

This was practically a risk-free business for her, because Salomon and Nick Fury's collaboration meant that those on the run needed a channel to be smuggled into the United States. What Stephanie was doing was establishing that channel—a nominally armed Hydra investigation team—to fleece the United States.

"From now on, we are also a righteous American intelligence organization," Salomon said with satisfaction.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)